Fukunaga Working On Next Bond Script

With a helmer now set in the form of acclaimed filmmaker Cary Fukunaga, taking over from Danny Boyle who left the project earlier this year, the next James Bond film is proceeding on track for a March 2019 shoot.

Fukunaga came onboard in September and this week spoke to Inquirer.Net about how the production on this, Daniel Craig’s last go-around as 007, is progressing. He says he has been re-developing the story alongside veteran franchise screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade and claims that the new film will be less standalone and circle back to the story that began with “Casino Royale” in 2006:

“In his first Bond movie, Casino Royale, he brought an incredible amount of vulnerability and humanity to the character, which was a big shift from Pierce Brosnan’s run. In terms of what I can bring to change the character, Bond is on a character arc that started with ‘Casino Royale,’ and I will be carrying that on. There will be changes, I am sure. As in any story, a character has to change in order [to have] a narrative.”

Craig’s run, like all the Bonds before him, has been up and down in terms of quality. The films have given us character reinventions though and recently came rumors that two of those, Christoph Waltz as Blofeld and Ben Whishaw as Q, won’t come back. Fukunaga shot down those rumors:

“We haven’t finished the screenplay, so there is no way that anyone could know that. Those are two extraordinary actors, so if there is space for them in the story, I would absolutely want them there. But I don’t know yet what it’s going to be… there will be the things in the Bond-verse that you have come to expect. I can’t say too much, though.”

He also adds that planning of the action sequences has only been very preliminary as he wants to make sure the narrative works first before adding detailed action in. Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson produce the new film which is aiming for an early 2020 release.